Chris Brogan: 5 Starter Moves- Should Blogging Go Next
whitney
· 1 year ago
A friend of mine is a editor on a small newspaper in upstate NY. His company told him he needed to start blogging, so he writes small pieces online. It's actually been a convenient way for me to keep up with him, more so than particularly "useful" for the paper. However, I think blogs are a long term strategy not a short term one. They put a human face on any organization; they require regular updating with meaningful information. They need to be authentic, and as much time needs to be spent looking for other similar information on the web, creating valuable hyperlinks, and commenting on other blogs to make the blog more popular. With 70 mill+ blogs, this rise in popularity might only happen with consistent effort over a year or more. It's not a short term strategy, but a consistent one that becomes part of the online presence of the organization.
Blogs are planting a flag in the sand, and signal that a business is interested in communicating. But unless the blog is active, and interactive (and we all have slow to no comment days), it may not be seen as providing all that much value. That's when we have to remember this is narrowcasting, not broadcasting, and the people who do come, comment and read are really interested in what you have to say- just the people you want to be talking to. That's the value.
Paisano
· 1 year ago
I like this. Yes, blogging doesn't have to be the first step. I've found the wiki feature in the new SharePoint 2007 to be very effective in getting managers, departments and ultimately the suits (execs) to accept and embrace social media. "That's it? Click edit?" Always brings a smile to my face. I then show them how we can use the blog to make annoucements like we did for current events on our intranet only this time much easier and quicker...and that means keeping everyone informed almost in realtime. Another smile.
I really liked the listening tips. The benefits are many. I will be doing that a lot. Thanks.
Pai
Sean Bohan
· 1 year ago
PR guys get storytelling thru press releases, briefings, etc. Marketing guys get message management, taglines, desired brand impressions. Blogging requires them to go outside their comfort zone. It requires them (hopefully) to say less about what they want the user to hear and more about *what is happening here*. The biggest thing I find clients need to understand is they have to "feed the beast" - write good stuff, early and often.
"Why isn't anyone commenting on my blog post?!!?" - because you keep letting the intern copy-paste press releases into your blog. Users are taking one look at this and decided it is crap. "Why isn't anyone subscribing to my feed/visiting my blog? - my pageviews suck!" - because you announced the blog through a press release. You didn't bother to become part of the community your company wants to have a conversation with. You don't link to or comment on others blogs with anything of value. You are trying to reach a world that doesn't read press releases and discovers information and stories with a very low "bullsh!t" tolerance.
A lot of clients start blogging long before they learn to listen for one reason - listening is hard work. It doesnt scale well. If you have a blog with 50-60 comments per post (after spam and dirty word filtering) that is a LOT of work to read through them and respond to each one - especially if the users are writing thoughtful comments. If you have your CEO or VP of x as the author of the blog, they are most likely writing the post on their blackberry and sending it to the web team to post, if at all. Reply to each and every one? Not gonna happen.
And when you don't listen, you anger the users. You are "using" social media tools, but aren't really invested in the concept or practice of social.
Companies want to jump in with both feet, and will, recognizing they may not have a handle on this whole blogging thing (the active listening side, the active storytelling side or the outreach side) - sometimes actually coming out and saying "we cant respond to all of your comments, but we do read them all". And thats OK (for now). Its an evolution not a revolution. You have more than one chance to make a good impression, especially if you have some humility, make the effort and invest in the community you are trying to build. A company can get it wrong, dust off and try again.
The irony is, "feeding the beast", coming up with good stories to tell isn't very hard if you are listening. The users are telling you what interests them. They are giving you free (and incredibly valuable) advice on comment by comment basis. Real feedback, not focus group "I want to please the moderator and get my $100" nonsense. The more honest a company is with blogging, the more honest the users will be in their comments.
If companies listen, they will never need to worry about running out of things to blog or podcast or videoblog about. The users will set the editorial calendar for them. Which is actually kinda cool.
Don Lafferty
· 1 year ago
Excellent points, Brogan.
Your Internal, External or Both section is near and dear to me personally, as I’ve struggled mightily to integrate both into a large EMS provider’s internal and external messaging strategy with limited success. But I know what I’m up against. To paraphrase one of James Carville’s tried and true branding statements –
“It’s the stock price, stupid.”
Blogging just plain isn’t for everybody, especially when a public company is trying to drive their stock price in a beleaguered market sector, and every cough and fart that sneaks out of the company requires MARCOM and Legal approval.
That dog just don’t hunt in Blogland.
Stephen
· 1 year ago
You're right about stealing posts being a hot button. Spam blogs infuriate me. I've made it a side project to report every one and get them shut down.
Mary Pace
· 1 year ago
Love the tutorial format of these posts, Chris!
I agree that listening should come first, but then it becomes an exercise in patience before a company starts blogging. Once the listening begins and execs see the opportunity to get the "message" out there in another venue, they're willing to throw just about anything out there without thinking through the strategy completely. Patience and planning are key, I believe, to developing a long-term blogging strategy.
You're spot on, Chris, to say listening comes first. I think the next step for a company might be responding and becoming part of the conversation - at that level. Provide comments and feedback to the blogs. Maybe even respond to customers through the comments sections. The response/comment step could be the first step out into the public eye before launching even a throwaway blog.
Once the organization sees the value of listening and responding, an external corporate blog can be more easily sold up the chain.
I realize I work in a behomoth corporation that is less than nimble, so this cautious approach may not be for everyone. In a company our size the challenge is coordinating the blog strategy throughout. Where does it live? MarComm? PR? Internal Com? Who owns it and do all the bloggers need to be working in concert? And best yet, what metrics do we place on blogging to measure it's effectiveness and justify the work?
Always more questions than answers. Thanks Chris!
Sean Bohan
· 1 year ago
I actually use Brogan as an example of listening when I discuss these topics with clients. A while back he wrote about how big companies can use social media: http://chrisbrogan.com/how-big-companies-could-...
The best part of the post (which was a good post) was the Saturn guy leaving a comment. Killer. They were listening. Its a gesture from a monolithic company to the little guy that "hey, we aren't ignoring you". And that is a big deal.
Every time I give that example, its wide eyes around the room.
Jim Walton
· 1 year ago
I agree, Chris. I used to try to push blogging on everyone, because everyone should be doing it. I enjoy it and I see benefits beyond what I ever imagined and I want you to do the same, that was my sales pitch. I even set some people up, reluctantly, I think. The blogs didn't last, they didn't want to do it and it wasn't their thing.
Nowadays, I don't push it at all, generally, and if someone tells me they want to start a blog I really give them the third degree. Asking why, why do you want to start? What do you think you will get out of it? Do you realize that having a blog means you have to write?
I agree that a blog usually should not be the first step out of the gate. I always tell people that they need to start reading blogs first, get a feel for how they flow, understand how the community flows, start commenting, maybe even begin to have a presence in your community through blogging, then maybe it's time to start blogging.
Training An Older Dog
· 5 months ago
Blogging just plain isn’t for everybody, especially when a public company is trying to drive their stock price in a beleaguered market sector, and every cough and fart that sneaks out of the company requires MARCOM and Legal approval.
All Comments
However, I think blogs are a long term strategy not a short term one. They put a human face on any organization; they require regular updating with meaningful information. They need to be authentic, and as much time needs to be spent looking for other similar information on the web, creating valuable hyperlinks, and commenting on other blogs to make the blog more popular. With 70 mill+ blogs, this rise in popularity might only happen with consistent effort over a year or more. It's not a short term strategy, but a consistent one that becomes part of the online presence of the organization.
Blogs are planting a flag in the sand, and signal that a business is interested in communicating. But unless the blog is active, and interactive (and we all have slow to no comment days), it may not be seen as providing all that much value. That's when we have to remember this is narrowcasting, not broadcasting, and the people who do come, comment and read are really interested in what you have to say- just the people you want to be talking to. That's the value.
"That's it? Click edit?" Always brings a smile to my face. I then show them how we can use the blog to make annoucements like we did for current events on our intranet only this time much easier and quicker...and that means keeping everyone informed almost in realtime. Another smile.
I really liked the listening tips. The benefits are many. I will be doing that a lot. Thanks.
Pai
"Why isn't anyone commenting on my blog post?!!?" - because you keep letting the intern copy-paste press releases into your blog. Users are taking one look at this and decided it is crap. "Why isn't anyone subscribing to my feed/visiting my blog? - my pageviews suck!" - because you announced the blog through a press release. You didn't bother to become part of the community your company wants to have a conversation with. You don't link to or comment on others blogs with anything of value. You are trying to reach a world that doesn't read press releases and discovers information and stories with a very low "bullsh!t" tolerance.
A lot of clients start blogging long before they learn to listen for one reason - listening is hard work. It doesnt scale well. If you have a blog with 50-60 comments per post (after spam and dirty word filtering) that is a LOT of work to read through them and respond to each one - especially if the users are writing thoughtful comments. If you have your CEO or VP of x as the author of the blog, they are most likely writing the post on their blackberry and sending it to the web team to post, if at all. Reply to each and every one? Not gonna happen.
And when you don't listen, you anger the users. You are "using" social media tools, but aren't really invested in the concept or practice of social.
Companies want to jump in with both feet, and will, recognizing they may not have a handle on this whole blogging thing (the active listening side, the active storytelling side or the outreach side) - sometimes actually coming out and saying "we cant respond to all of your comments, but we do read them all". And thats OK (for now). Its an evolution not a revolution. You have more than one chance to make a good impression, especially if you have some humility, make the effort and invest in the community you are trying to build. A company can get it wrong, dust off and try again.
The irony is, "feeding the beast", coming up with good stories to tell isn't very hard if you are listening. The users are telling you what interests them. They are giving you free (and incredibly valuable) advice on comment by comment basis. Real feedback, not focus group "I want to please the moderator and get my $100" nonsense. The more honest a company is with blogging, the more honest the users will be in their comments.
If companies listen, they will never need to worry about running out of things to blog or podcast or videoblog about. The users will set the editorial calendar for them. Which is actually kinda cool.
Your Internal, External or Both section is near and dear to me personally, as I’ve struggled mightily to integrate both into a large EMS provider’s internal and external messaging strategy with limited success. But I know what I’m up against. To paraphrase one of James Carville’s tried and true branding statements –
“It’s the stock price, stupid.”
Blogging just plain isn’t for everybody, especially when a public company is trying to drive their stock price in a beleaguered market sector, and every cough and fart that sneaks out of the company requires MARCOM and Legal approval.
That dog just don’t hunt in Blogland.
I agree that listening should come first, but then it becomes an exercise in patience before a company starts blogging. Once the listening begins and execs see the opportunity to get the "message" out there in another venue, they're willing to throw just about anything out there without thinking through the strategy completely.
Patience and planning are key, I believe, to developing a long-term blogging strategy.
You're spot on, Chris, to say listening comes first. I think the next step for a company might be responding and becoming part of the conversation - at that level. Provide comments and feedback to the blogs. Maybe even respond to customers through the comments sections. The response/comment step could be the first step out into the public eye before launching even a throwaway blog.
Once the organization sees the value of listening and responding, an external corporate blog can be more easily sold up the chain.
I realize I work in a behomoth corporation that is less than nimble, so this cautious approach may not be for everyone. In a company our size the challenge is coordinating the blog strategy throughout. Where does it live? MarComm? PR? Internal Com? Who owns it and do all the bloggers need to be working in concert? And best yet, what metrics do we place on blogging to measure it's effectiveness and justify the work?
Always more questions than answers. Thanks Chris!
http://chrisbrogan.com/how-big-companies-could-...
The best part of the post (which was a good post) was the Saturn guy leaving a comment. Killer. They were listening. Its a gesture from a monolithic company to the little guy that "hey, we aren't ignoring you". And that is a big deal.
Every time I give that example, its wide eyes around the room.
Nowadays, I don't push it at all, generally, and if someone tells me they want to start a blog I really give them the third degree. Asking why, why do you want to start? What do you think you will get out of it? Do you realize that having a blog means you have to write?
I agree that a blog usually should not be the first step out of the gate. I always tell people that they need to start reading blogs first, get a feel for how they flow, understand how the community flows, start commenting, maybe even begin to have a presence in your community through blogging, then maybe it's time to start blogging.